The giving of massages for therapeutic and non therapeutic purposes is quite popular and there is a need for the ability to support the head in both the prone and the supine positions whether on a bed or on a flat surface such as a floor. Further, persons or users receiving massages are of different sizes.
A fair amount of effort has been devoted to providing various types of head supports for use in the giving of massages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,313 B1—Eschenbach discloses a pair of spaced apart tubular members connected by a threaded tubular member therebetween to form a U-shaped structure wherein the parallel support members have a dual density foam covering. The spacing between the tubular support members may be adjusted by means of the rotation on the threads on the tubular member connecting the two support members. Eschenbach requires a large U-shaped tubular structure which is difficult to adjust with respect to spacing. The U-shaped structure inhibits airflow. Further, there is no provision of any structure for mounting the U-shaped structure in a manner to act as a face or head extension on a mattress.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,734—Lawrie discloses a face plate which may be horseshoe, U-shaped or circular shaped on which a cushion is mounted. The face plate is connected to a base plate which may be mounted between a mattress and a box spring. The supporting legs are fixedly mounted to the base plate 16. Again, this provides a U-shaped or horseshoe shaped arrangement for support of the head and is not adjustable. The only adjustability that is provided is for the height of the mattress, and this adjustability is limited by the arrangement of the legs with respect to the base plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,460—Fried et al. discloses a bed extension device having a U-shaped cushion mounted on a head support element with a hole in the center supported by a pole on a horizontal member that mounts between a mattress and a box spring. There is no adjustability of the sides of the U-shaped cushion and the head support element is mounted fixedly to the horizontal member except for adjustability with respect to the height of the mattress.
Improvement in this area would be desirable to provide enhanced adjustability and improved structural arrangement.